This invention concerns the field of color enhanced video displays related to night vision devices.
It appears to be well recognized in the art of human communication that color enhances the human ability to perceive patterns, remember shapes, and distinguish between otherwise similar shapes for examples. Perhaps one of the most outstanding present day examples of this human characteristic is to be found in the almost universal replacement of monochromatic image display equipment with the color enhanced counterpart equipment in the fields of television reception and computer terminal devices. Indeed the consumer preferences which dictate manufacturer's actions in these fields have limited the use of monochromatic equipment to special situations such as small sized displays, low energy displays and other instances wherein response to a specific need is considered to outweigh the benefits of a color image. These preferences also extend to the field of military equipment displays, most notably for present purposes, to the field of surveillance equipment and especially to equipment involving fight vision capability, i.e., equipment involving night vision as a stand alone capability or night vision in combination with day vision or with radar or laser sourced information.
In the field of night vision for example current state-of-the-art equipment provides intensified, monochromatic, shades-of-green imagery as an output to a user or observer. In general however, it is found that color encoding can significantly increase observer performance with visual tasks in this field just as color encoding is found to improve human performance and acceptance in the computer display and television fields. For present use purposes therefore it is considered to be a guiding principle that given an optimized night vision system configuration, the visibility of certain man-made, natural, and camouflaged objects, when color encoded, are rendered more visible to most users; such color encoding thereby results in quicker object detection and/or recognition by a user or observer.
In addition to such color capable equipment being useful as a research tool, night vision equipment of this color capability can also be packaged for use as a vehicle-mounted night-sensor system for military and non military field use, for use in automotive equipment or aircraft for example. Moreover color capable equipment which utilizes a broad spectrum of input wavelengths, wavelengths which include both the visible and infrared (IR) spectral regions, can further increase system and user-system performance. In this equipment, size and weight are not as critical as in the case of head-mounted vision systems since color-capable equipment is viewed as having primary utility in large area environments.
The U.S. Patent art indicates the presence of inventive activity in the field of night vision devices and their testing. One such patent is U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,622 issued to J. M. Rouchon et al., a patent which is concerned with an infrared observation system having a serf checking feature. The Rouchon patent uses a Narcissus effect parasitic image which is imposed on the useful image of an aircraft pod mounted or other infrared system to achieve the self checking feature. The Rouchon patent appears however to be only distally related to the presentation of artificially colored images in a system having infrared input capability as in the present invention.
The invention of R. D. Rosenthal in U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,532 is of general background interest with respect to the present invention in the sense that it discloses use of near infrared spectral calibration standards, i.e., spectral clusters of known calibration constant, to achieve accurate calibration of a blood glucose measuring system. The Rosenthal apparatus appears however to be only distally related to the presentation of artificially colored images in a system having infrared input capability as in the present invention.
Similarly the patent of J. R. Apperson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,511, is of general background interest with respect to the present invention. The Apperson patent discloses an arrangement for calibrating an infrared apparatus of the blood gas analyzer type, a device of the nature used in surgical operating rooms to measure a patient's breath gasses. This calibration is achieved with known standard elements which have predetermined numeric values of radiation, reflection, or absorption. The Apperson apparatus appears however to be only distally related to the presentation of artificially colored images in a system having infrared input capability as in the present invention.
The invention of P. G. Morse in U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,448 is also of general background interest with respect to the present invention in the sense that it discloses use of a calibration standard in an infrared detector system. The Morse apparatus also appears however to be only distally related to the presentation of artificially colored images in a system having infrared input capability as in the present invention.
The invention of J. B. Sampsell et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,002 is also of general background interest with respect to the present invention in the sense that it discloses use of a calibration arrangement in an optical system. In particular, the Sampsell et al. system uses a spatial light modulator to achieve a desired mix of different temperature or different color-operated calibration sources. The Sampsell et al. apparatus appears however to also be only distally related to the presentation of artificially colored images in a system having infrared input capability as in the present invention.
The prior patent of an inventor named in the present patent document, U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,239, issued to A. R. Pinkus, is also of background interest with respect to the present invention. This patent discloses a NIGHT VISION GOGGLE (NVG) testing arrangement which includes an input signal source and a NVG output measuring apparatus for evaluating the tested NVG's response to this input signal. The Pinkus apparatus appears however to be only distally related to the presentation of artificially colored images in a system having infrared input capability as in the present invention.